Hoax

ARTICLES ABOUT HOAX BY DATE - PAGE 2

LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera's proposed $47.5 million move to Manchester United turned out to be a hoax after three men attempting to broker the deal were labelled imposters, British media reported on Monday. "Reports in Spain claim three men dressed in black suits and claiming to be United "representatives" spent an hour at the La Liga offices attempting to negotiate a deal. The move collapsed at the 11th hour," the BBC reported on the final day of the transfer window on Monday.

An online posting that intimated someone had dumped a body in Chicago's Jackson Park ignited a torrent of concern among social media users over the weekend and even prompted police to scour the area. The posting occurred on a website called PostSecret.com, which solicits submissions of anonymous homemade postcards with confessional messages through the mail. Each week, the website uploads a select number of such postcards. The postcard in question included an aerial map of what social media users say is of Jackson Park along with the words, "I said she dumped me, but really, I dumped her (body)"

A Stevenson High School teacher - not a student - created a fake letter that promised freshmen they could buy their way out of trouble and earn extra credit with cash, the school district's superintendent said Friday. Officials don't know who distributed the letter and misrepresented it as a real school pilot program, said Eric Twadell, superintendent of Stevenson High School District 125 in northwest suburban Lincolnshire. But after the letter made the rounds on social media this week - and school officials spent Wednesday assuring the school community it was a student hoax - they learned that a teacher initially had designed the letter as part of a lesson plan on the Catholic Church's use of indulgences in the 1500s, Twadell said.

Given Illinois' school funding woes, the letter was almost believable. Written on what appeared to be official Stevenson High School stationery, the letter announced a pilot program that would allow freshmen "to make financial donations to ease academic and extracurricular obligations. " For a $20 donation, the letter continued, a student would receive five extra-credit points. For $35, a student could be exempted from a test. An image of the letter, dated July 8 and signed by a fictional administrator, was making the rounds on social media and email Wednesday.

Given Illinois' school funding woes, the letter was almost believable. Written on what appeared to be official Stevenson High School stationery, the letter announced a pilot program that would allow freshmen "to make financial donations to ease academic and extracurricular obligations. " For a $20 donation, the letter continued, a student would receive five extra-credit points. For $35, a student could be exempted from a test. An image of the letter, dated July 8 and signed by a fictional administrator, was making the rounds on social media and email Wednesday.

The bizarre saga of a 68-year-old woman who said she was forced to hand over jewelry valued at more than $135,000 to a group of menacing young men on the bustling Magnificent Mile reverberated around the country. Some 36 hours later, police had discredited the woman's account, but the damage to Chicago's reputation as the glittering jewel by the lake had been done, according to some civic and business leaders. "We fortunately attract tens of thousand of visitors to the district on a daily basis with no incident whatsoever," said John Chikow, CEO of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.

LONDON (Reuters) - An Australian radio presenter will give evidence at an inquest into the death of a nurse who hanged herself after putting through a hoax call seeking information on Prince William's pregnant wife Kate, the presenter's lawyers said on Monday. Mel Greig asked to appear as an individual at the inquest into Jacintha Saldanha's death, which provoked worldwide anger at the radio DJ's actions. "(Greig) is determined to address any questions surrounding her role in these tragic events as part of the inquest," her lawyers Slater & Gordon said in a statement.

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Prominent short-seller David Einhorn raised eyebrows last month when he popped up on Twitter to disavow that he had tweeted about Herbalife Ltd. "Apparently I have a twitter impersonator," said the hedge fund manager, adding that he had no plans "to tweet about stocks. " What set off Einhorn, founder of Greenlight Capital, was a post by a since-suspended Twitter account called @Greenlightcap that read: "The $HLF tug of war will in the end come down to who has more money to play with.